XXXIX.

TRANQUILLITY! the sovereign aim wert thou
In heathen schools of philosophic lore;
Heart-stricken by stern destiny of yore

The Tragic Muse thee served with thoughtful vow;
And what of hope Elysium could allow

Was fondly seized by Sculpture, to restore

Peace to the Mourner's soul; but He who wore
The crown of thorns around his bleeding brow
Warmed our sad being with his glorious light:
Then Arts, which still had drawn a softening grace
From shadowy fountains of the Infinite,

Communed with that Idea face to face;
And move around it now as planets run,
Each in its orbit, round the central Sun.

XL.

NUNNERY.

THE floods are roused, and will not soon be weary; Down from the Pennine Alps* how fiercely sweeps CROGLIN, the stately Eden's tributary!

He raves, or through some moody passage creeps Plotting new mischief-out again he leaps

Into broad light, and sends, through regions airy, That voice which soothed the Nuns while on the

steeps

They knelt in prayer, or sang to blissful Mary.
That union ceased: then, cleaving easy walks

Through crags, and smoothing paths beset with danger,

Came studious Taste; and many a pensive Stranger Dreams on the banks, and to the river talks.

What change shall happen next to Nunnery Dell? Canal, and Viaduct, and Railway, tell! 13

* The chain of Crossfell, which parts Cumberland and Westmoreland from Northumberland and Durham.

XLI.

STEAMBOATS, VIADUCTS, AND RAILWAYS.

MOTIONS and Means, on land and sea at war
With old poetic feeling, not for this,
Shall ye, by Poets even, be judged amiss!
Nor shall your presence, howsoe'er it mar
The loveliness of Nature, prove a bar

To the Mind's gaining that prophetic sense
Of future change, that point of vision whence
May be discovered what in soul ye are.
In spite of all that beauty may disown

In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
Her lawful offspring in Man's art; and Time,
Pleased with your triumphs o'er his brother Space,
Accepts from your bold hands the proffered crown
Of hope, and smiles on you with cheer sublime.

XLII.

LOWTHER! in thy majestic Pile are seen
Cathedral pomp and grace, in apt accord
With the baronial castle's sterner mien;
Union significant of God adored,

And charters won and guarded by the sword
Of ancient honour; whence that goodly state
Of Polity which wise men venerate,
And will maintain, if God his help afford.

Hourly the democratic torrent swells;

For airy promises and hopes suborned

The strength of backward-looking thoughts is scorned.

Fall if ye must, ye Towers and Pinnacles,
With what ye symbolise, authentic Story

Will say, Ye disappeared with England's Glory!

LONSDALE! it were unworthy of a Guest,
Whose heart with gratitude to thee inclines,
If he should speak, by fancy touched, of signs
On thy Abode harmoniously imprest,

Yet be unmoved with wishes to attest

How in thy mind and moral frame agree
Fortitude and that christian Charity

Which, filling, consecrates the human breast.
And if the Motto on thy 'scutcheon teach

With truth," THE MAGISTRACY SHOWS THE Man ;"
That searching test thy public course has stood;
As will be owned alike by bad and good,
Soon as the measuring of life's little span
Shall place thy virtues out of Envy's reach.